Nn Club Targets Blacks

Steamers Now Harlem Nights

NEWPORT NEWS — The former Steamers restaurant at 10453 Jefferson Ave. has been converted into Harlem Nights.

Al Davis, Harlem Nights new owner and general manager, said the club will be a "high-class night spot" targeted toward the black community. The club opened Wednesday.

"We knew there was no high-class black night club on the Peninsula," Davis said. "They can come to Harlem Nights, and we'll show them what it's all about."

Carl Breen, who with his son, Mark, operated Steamers, sold the restaurant-night club to Davis for an undisclosed price. Breen said the decision to sell was based on his desire to concentrate on his Fisherman's Wharf restaurant chain.

"I'm sticking with the restaurant business. That's what I know best," Breen said. Although the club was making money, Breen said he did not like the long hours involved in operating Steamers.

Davis said Steamers' business had been on the decline for five months. He said that Steamers had lost customers to newer clubs such as Frizbee's at the Ramada Inn in Newport News, formerly known as The Inn Place.

It took two weeks to convert Steamers to Harlem Nights, Davis said. A $150,000 light and sound system has been added to the club, he said, in addition to a new dance floor.

A native of Harlem, Davis said the club hopes to emulate the style and panache of that area of New York City during the 1920s.

The club will employ a strict dress code, he said, prohibiting tennis shoes and T-shirts.